The present invention relates to an artificial sausage casing comprising a cellulose-based support tubing which is provided with an external coating layer.
Uncooked sausage, for example, long-life sausage, dry sausage or salami, is preserved by smoking or air-drying, as is known. In the air-dry process, special mold fungi are cultivated on the outer surfaces of the stuffed sausage casings, and the sausages are preserved by air-drying for weeks or even for months. However, the long storage periods give rise to problems. In the course of time, for example, the mold fungi secrete cellulytic enzymes, in particular cellulases, which gradually decompose the cellulose material of the sausage casing. As a result, the casing becomes brittle and fragile and can no longer be peeled from the sausage meat in one piece.
It is known to provide the cellulose-based support tubing with a polymeric coating (German Offenlegungsschrift No. 32 27 920) to improve the resistance of the cellulose casing to this undesirable decomposition by cellulytic enzymes. These sausage casings are, however, not sufficiently protected from the formation of an undesirable mold prior to the processing thereof.
In fact, there is frequently the additional problem that the artificial sausage casing is attacked by undesirable mold fungi and other microorganisms while it is stored before being stuffed with sausage meat. These mold fungi grow particularly fast if the artificial sausage casing is stored with a high moisture content before it is processed.
To prevent this effect, it is known to apply a fungicide to the outside surface of the support tubing (German Offenlegungsschrift No. 33 28 947). A conventional fungicide is, for example, potassium sorbate which is anchored to the outside of the cellulose casing in a surface layer comprising a polymeric cationic resin (German Offenlegungsschrift No. 32 40 847) or crosslinked gelatin (U.S. Pat. No. 3,617,312). The external surface layers of these prior art cellulose-based sausage casings, however, do not produce sufficient resistance of the casings to the decomposition of cellulose by cellulytic enzymes.